Andy Rodriguez - @thatfitinvestor
The average person gains 11 pounds for every diet they try. Even worse, when they lose weight they also lose muscle and fat. When they regain weight it’s all fat. And since muscle burns seven times as many calories as fat, their metabolism is slower than when they started the diet — cruelly requiring even fewer calories to maintain their weight.
Do you know someone overweight who says they don’t eat that much? They may not be lying. They’ve damaged their metabolism by yo-yo dieting. There are two keys to losing weight and keeping it off: reduce your appetite by fixing out-of-whack hormones and brain chemistry that drive hunger and overeating — not by white-knuckling it and starving yourself — and increase your metabolism so you burn more calories all day long.
Unfortunately, most diets have the opposite effect – increased hunger and slowed metabolism. Here's five reasons that majority of diets fail:
1. Reliance on willpower, not science
There is science behind hunger. Unfortunately, most diets trigger hunger by making you eat less. You can only starve yourself for so long — our brain compensates and protects us from starvation, self-induced or not, by dramatically increasing our hunger cravings and dropping metabolism to conserve energy. Eating low fat, high carb, and/or sugary foods actually increases hunger and slows metabolism.
2. Focus on calories
The mantra of “calories in/calories out”, or energy balance as the key to weight loss, is quickly being thrown into the scientific trash can. Some calories make you fat, others make you thin. What we now know is that any foods that spike insulin — sugar, flour, excess grains/fruit/beans — trigger a shift in your metabolism.
Insulin drives all the fuel in your blood from the food you just ate into your hungry fat cells. Your body thinks you’re starving even though you just downed a giant bagel or a milkshake. Remember the two things that happen when your body thinks it’s starving: increased hunger and slowed metabolism.
You CAN get your daily sweet fix from sugary foods, but keep refined sugars under 20% of your total daily calories.
3. Not tracking
Many of my clients think they eat less than they actually do. If it goes into your mouth, you need to track it. Every single bite, no matter how small. Pennies a day add up, and so do calories.
4. Not having a set plan
Five P’s: proper preparation prevents poor performance. How will you arrive at your destination if you don’t have directions?
5. Not following me on Instagram
Just sayin’. @holyfitgym
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